Psychoanalytic Approach to the Study of Choosing a Psychotherapist

In “A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Study of the Choice of a Psychotherapist” we examine the process, as well as the criteria, for choosing a psychotherapist for personal psychotherapy by a patient. As part of this work, a hypothesis was voiced about the existence of several types of basic transferences, the presence of which influences the patient’s choice of a particular psychotherapist. These transfer types were determined into 4 groups: - the therapist is like a real good object from childhood, - the therapist is like a good object from childhood but better, - the therapist as a good object that has never existed, - narcissistic choice: the therapist is like me. The theoretical part of this work presents the concepts of leading psychoanalysts, which served as the basis for work on the practical part, including: the ideas of S. Freud and R. Fairbairn on the existence and importance of interpreting transference, M. Klein on the theory of object relations, M. Balint on the concept of a new beginning , D. Winnicott about the good enough mother figure, as well as D. Boubly about the theory of attachment, W. Bion about the theory of thinking. To confirm or refute the stated hypothesis, in the practical part of the work were presented the results of a survey on choosing a psychotherapist. The survey asked a series of questions describing both the personal characteristics of respondents, their closest childhood objects, and the characteristics of a current or desired psychotherapist to work with. 78 respondents took part in the survey. The data obtained from the respondents’ answers were analyzed in detail, and therefore they could be divided into 5 groups of answers, among which were all the previously mentioned transfer groups, as well as the group whose answers could not be determined in any of the proposed types of transfer. The relevance of this work is due to the growing popularity of patients turning to psychotherapy as a separate area of mental health, including for preventive reasons. From the point of view of practical application, based on the data obtained from the study, it can be recommended that individual psychotherapists and psychotherapy clinics, when agreeing to work with a particular patient, pay attention not only to their professional skills, but also to the ability of therapists to establish contact with clients through the prism of the object of his early experience and, as a consequence, the ability to work with countertransference reactions that arise during work.